Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Monterey, CA

The harbor is owned by the city of Monterey and under the control of a harbormaster. His office is in a building on shore about midway between the two municipal wharves. Transients requesting berth assignments should contact either the harbormaster’s office or the privately-owned Monterey Bay Boatworks Company on VHF-FM channel 16. The harbormaster can be contacted by phone at 831-646-3950 or at http://www.monterey.org.
Monterey Coast Guard Station is at the foot of the Coast Guard pier. The speed limit in the harbor is 3 knots.
A marina is just S of the foot of the Coast Guard dock. A 60-ton boat lift is available; complete hull, electrical, and electronic repairs are available.
Gasoline and diesel fuel are available at Municipal Wharf No. 2. Water, ice, and marine supplies, are available at the marina S of the Coast Guard dock and Municipal Wharf No. 2.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Monterey Bay, between Point Pinos and Point Santa Cruz, is a broad 20-mile-wide open roadstead. The shores are low with sand beaches backed by dunes or low sandy bluffs. Salinas Valley, the lowland extending E from about the middle of the bay, is prominent from seaward as it forms the break between the Santa Lucia Range S and the high land of the Santa Cruz Mountains N. The bay is free of dangers, the 10-fathom curve lying at an average distance of 0.7 mile offshore.
Monterey Harbor, 3 miles SE of Point Pinos, is a compact resort harbor with some commercial activity and fishing. The harbor can accommodate over 800 vessels.
Depths of more than 20 feet are available in the outer harbor and entrance, and 10 to 6 feet in the small-boat basin.
Monterey Harbor breakwater is on the N side of the entrance to Monterey Harbor. The breakwater extends seaward from the Coast Guard pier for a combined length of about 1,700 feet. This affords excellent protection in NW weather. However, in heavy weather there may be a strong surge in the harbor. The outer end of the breakwater is marked by a light. A sound signal is at the light. The outer harbor is marked by a private lighted junction buoy. The N channel at the junction buoy leads to a private marina and fuel dock.